Once Upon a Tune

Once Upon a Tune is a weekly half-hour American television series that aired on the DuMont Television Network, premiering on March 6, 1951, and running to May 15, 1951.

Once Upon a Tune
Genre	Music/Variety
Written by	Sid Frank
Directed by	Barnaby Smith
Starring	Bea Arthur Reginald Beane Charlotte Rae Gordon Dilworth Phil Hanna Holly Harris
Composer	Coleman Dowell
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Bob Loewi
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	DuMont
Release	March 6 (1951-03-06) – May 15, 1951 (1951-05-15)

The series presented original musical productions which were often satirical and tongue-in-cheek adaptations of either classic fairy tales or contemporary Broadway musicals. Bea Arthur made her TV debut on this series.^[1]

Episode status

The Paley Center for Media holds kinescope copies of three episodes – one spoofing "Three Little Pigs",^[2] one spoofing "Rapunzel",^[3] and the third on a 57-minute kinescope film reel. (This latter reel also contains an episode of Mr. Dynamite, a TV series or pilot based on an earlier Hollywood movie of the same name based on a Dashiell Hammett story.)^[4]

According to Edie Adams, an actress who worked at DuMont for several years, much of the network's programming archive was destroyed in the 1970s.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
• List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts